We are Symphony: A conversation with Stefan Winter
January 22, 2026
From being Rakuten Symphony Germany's first employee to becoming its Managing Director in 2025, Stefan Winter's journey has come full circle. Dive in to learn more about his remarkable path.
Tell us about your journey to Rakuten Symphony.
My journey to Rakuten Symphony began in Berlin, where I was leading public tender business for a SaaS company. An exciting opportunity arose when the Managing Director of Rakuten’s German e-commerce branch reached out, seeking a Sales and B2B marketing professional to drive growth. I joined Rakuten in April 2018, taking on the leadership of a team across sales and B2B marketing—a role that, in many ways, mirrored my current responsibilities. I continued in that capacity until the end of 2020.
The pivotal moment arrived when a member of Rakuten’s European leadership team introduced me to the nascent mobile business. I had already been closely following Rakuten's innovative developments, including announcements from our Group Chairman and CEO Mickey Mikitani, and even attended my first Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, 2019. In 2020, I met Rakuten Symphony’s sales lead, who, with refreshing candor, presented an intriguing proposition: ‘There’s an opportunity, but I don’t know if you’ll have a job in six months.’ He explained that if the project succeeded, it would evolve into a long-term engagement, and they needed someone to champion our efforts in Germany. I embraced the adventure without hesitation, and I can confidently say I've had no regrets since!
I officially joined on January 1, 2021, officially becoming employee no. 1 for Rakuten Symphony Germany and hitting the ground running. At that initial stage, deep telco experience wasn't the primary requirement; my prior experience in the tower business provided a foundational understanding, but the focus was more on project management, strategic sales, orchestrating customer interactions, defining key discussion points, and assembling the right talent. As the project gained momentum, it evolved into a monumental effort, culminating in the compilation of over 5,000 pages of documentation to finalize a significant contract. Ultimately, this hard work led to 1&1 and Rakuten building and launching Europe's first fully virtualized and most modern mobile network.
What key lessons define your leadership approach today?
I started my career self-employed in finance and real estate when I was 21, focusing on end-customer sales and some business clients. That experience taught me what it takes to get things done, because when you’re on your own, ‘no one else is doing it, right? You see it, you own it, you do it.’ That’s one of my core strengths.
My approach is agile and iterative, progress step by step rather than waiting for perfection to strive for sufficient progress and adapt where needed. “Gerd Gigerenzer's ecological rationality” is highly effective in complex and uncertain environment while using “David Kahneman's Thinking fast and slow” to be aware of biases, making the overall strategy resilient and adaptive. Thinking fast and correcting fast is my mindset to overcome obstacles, customer sentiment, and the effort required to bring the company to where it is today. It’s about pushing forward daily, even with small advances.
In short, my leadership style is open-door and hands-on. I don’t let hierarchy limit involvement. I believe strongly in sharing knowledge, keeping wisdom to yourself is counterproductive. Educating others on how to get things done, where to find information, and how to engage customers is vital. And yes, making work fun matters. Work is hard enough; you can lose the joy if you’re not careful. Rakuten means ‘Optimism,’ after all.
How do you think Rakuten Symphony is positioned to address market demands in Europe's telecom and enterprise markets?
We have excellent products and strong testimonials from Japan, and now with the 1&1 project our success continues. Challenges certainly exist, but everyone in this space faces them. Building a network like ours has never been done before in Europe, and we’re doing great.
This gives us a huge opportunity to leverage knowledge from Japan and Germany to help traditional telco providers, who are struggling. They need to shift from operating networks with thousands of people to what we’re achieving with 1&1, running a network for 12 million customers with only a few hundred people.
Legacy providers, without automation, Open RAN, and software-driven solutions, are burdened by decades-old infrastructure. We, as a new entrant, have the advantage of a fresh, agile approach. Our opportunity lies in helping these providers reduce costs and survive. Talent is scarce in telco, and survival depends on embracing modern, automated methods. We are leading this transformation.
What is your approach to dealing with high-demand customers and working under tight project deadlines?
That’s the nature of our projects. From the first meeting, customers are highly demanding, and rightly so, given the financial stakes. If you pay a lot, you expect quality, speed, and stability.
We manage it day by day, step by step. Sometimes, we push back if demands are unreasonable. But if they’re fair, we deliver on time. Ultimately, you must accept this reality, you can’t change the industry or customer expectations.
Looking back at your time with Rakuten Symphony, what's a moment or achievement that truly stands out to you?
Being part of Rakuten Symphony Germany overshadows all my wins in the Rakuten e-commerce business. Closing the 1&1 contract and staying with the project from inception until now, being the first employee in Germany and watching it grow is a profound achievement. It’s not one moment but countless small wins: delivering features, closing change requests after tough negotiations. My eight-year journey with Rakuten has never been boring but always challenging, always unexpected. It feels like walking a tightrope –exhilarating, demanding focus, and always pushing the boundaries of what's possible. The diversity and creativity of the team are incredible. I learn something new every day. In a traditional corporate setup, you wouldn’t get this vibe.
Outside of work, what recharges your batteries?
I spend as much time as possible with my wife, son and daughter. We recently got a dog, so walking him helps. I love Berlin, so there are specific areas where I just enjoy a stroll, followed by a glass of wine or a good meal. That's what I do. And if there's time left after family and sports, I catch up with friends.
I also do CrossFit twice a week which helps clear my mind as I am most of the time mentally with our projects and the upcoming challenges we may face.
What advice would you offer to employees looking to grow their careers at Rakuten Symphony and how we can use this experience to strengthen ourselves within the telecom and enterprise industries?
Being part of Rakuten Symphony is already a strong career testimonial. It's offered an incredible opportunity for growth, evolving my understanding from basic technical concepts to an comprehensive, end-to-end view of complex systems. The truth is, you'll never know everything, but the key is to cultivate a mindset of continuous learning and avoid complacency. Always pay attention to what's happening around you.
In a company like ours, spanning multiple domains such as OSS, Cloud, and RAN, cultivating a deep understanding of what everyone is doing is crucial. Make it a personal goal to learn something new every day, whether it's directly work-related or for your personal growth.
Beyond formal learning, focus on your work and actively accelerate your development by learning from your colleagues. I constantly observe and learn how each person approaches challenges, how they question assumptions, and how they overcome obstacles. This collaborative insight is an incredible, free educational superpower right here, all around you!
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